AUSTIN, TX - NOVEMBER 10: David Ash #14 of the Texas Longhorns throws a pass during the Big 12 Conference game against the Iowa State Cyclones on November 10, 2012 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.

AUSTIN - After he wept for the man he considered a second father and thought about what needed to be done next, Mack Brown was sure only of the starting point. Where his Texas Longhorns went from there would be up to them.And whether they realized it or not, the Longhorns followed Darrell Royal's lead. A play-caller innovated. A quarterback seized the moment. A defense got tough. Most importantly, they won.

So even though No. 17 UT wasn't faithful to every detail of Royal's wishbone offense on the play that started a 33-7 victory over Iowa State at Royal-Memorial Stadium on Saturday, they were more than faithful to his legacy.

"It couldn't be any better than that," Brown said.

For the Longhorns, that went for the start, the finish, and just about everything in between on a day they honored Royal, the legendary coach who won three national titles at UT and died Wednesday at the age of 88.

Brown, who in 15 years with the Longhorns had developed an extremely close relationship with Royal, announced Wednesday that the Longhorns would open Saturday's game in the wishbone.

In his heyday, Royal employed that offensive formation to unleash one of the most effective running attacks in college football history. On Saturday, though, a new generation of Longhorns used it as a precursor to razzle-dazzle.

After forcing ISU to punt and taking over at their own 6, the Longhorns (8-2, 5-2 in the Big 12) lined up in the wishbone, and quarterback David Ash pitched the ball behind him and to his right to Jaxon Shipley. Shipley, from the end zone, threw back across the field to Ash, who then lobbed a perfect deep pass to wide-open tight end Greg Daniels for a 47-yard gain.

The play, called "Flex," was designed by co-offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin. It was the only one UT practiced out of the wishbone this week, so there was no hesitation when the Longhorns took over deep in their own territory.

"There really wasn't a choice there," Harsin said.

Daniels said teammates warned him for days that he needed to make the catch, lest he ruin a historic moment. Shipley said he didn't think about the pressure as much as he focused on simply getting the ball back to Ash. But Ash admitted he had his doubts about the plan from the beginning.

"I was kind of worried (the wishbone) was announced on the national news," Ash said. "But it worked anyway."

So did just about everything else Ash did Saturday. Throwing for a career-high 364 yards, Ash went 25-for-31 with two touchdown passes to lead the Longhorns to their fourth consecutive victory and clinch their first winning Big 12 season since 2009.

Shipley and Mike Davis, who caught a 61-yard touchdown pass from Ash, both went over 100 yards receiving. Joe Bergeron and Johnathan Gray combined for 160 rushing yards. And a UT defense on pace to be the worst in school history followed last week's encouraging performance with an even better one, limiting the Cyclones (5-5, 2-5) to 277 total yards.